Interview with Richard William Ridgwell

Australian private served with 2/4th (Machine Gun) Bn, 8th Australian Infantry Div in Singapore, Malaya, 25/1/1942-15/2/1942; prisoner of war in Selarang Barracks, Changi, Singapore, Burma-Thailand Railway and Nakom Nayok Camp, Thailand, 2/1942-8/1945

REEL 1 Background in Perth, Australia, 1918-1941: family; education; activities with Boy Scouts; reason for joining Citizens Military Forces; attitude to First World War; effects of Depression; employment; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; reason for volunteering for military service; attitude towards United Kingdom and British Empire; internment of Italian friends. Aspects of enlistment and training with Australian Imperial Force in Australia, 6/1941-12/1941: enlistment in Perth, 11/6/1941; issue of uniform and kit; basic training at Northam Camp; opinion of equipment; attitude to overseas service; posting with reinforcements to 2/4th (Machine Gun) Bn, 8th Australian Infantry Div, 12/1941. Aspects of voyage aboard HMT Aquitania from Fremantle, Australia to Singapore, Malaya, 12/1941-1/1942: embarkation aboard HMT Aquitania at Fremantle; opinion of conditions on board. REEL 2 Continues: sleeping arrangements; daily routine aboard ship; attitude towards Japanese. Aspects of operations as private with 2/4th (Machine Gun) Bn, 8th Australian Infantry Div in Singapore, Malaya, 25/1/1942-15/2/1942: initial impressions of Singapore; opinion of Japanese; story of Imperial Japanese Army Air Service reconnaissance aircraft; question of not being allowed to fire on Japanese forces; location of Japanese forces; Imperial Japanese Army Air Service air raids on Singapore; reaction to landing of Japanese forces on Singapore Islands; position in trenches; daily routine and duties; initial reaction to sight of wounded; surrender and laying down arms, 15/2/1942; nature of march to Selarang Barracks, Changi; personal possessions; conditions during march. Aspects of period as prisoner of war in Selarang Barracks, Changi, Singapore, Malaya, 2/1942-3/1943: question of escape; organisation; attitude to being made prisoner of war; living conditions; morale. REEL 3 Continues: daily routine and work; recreational activities including Buffalo Lodge; black market activities with local civilians; problem of vitamin deficiency; cooking rice in sea water; methods of supplementing diet; making own cigarettes and growing own vegetables; attitude to escape; working party in Adam Park building Imperial Japanese Army shrine on golf course; punishments; story relating to steamroller; working hours; opinion of medical officer Captain Philip Millard; sight of amputation; medical facilities; discipline; communication with family; Red Cross parcels; awareness of progress of war; concert parties. REEL 4 Continues: construction of Imperial Japanese Army memorial; attitude of guards towards prisoners of war; religious activities; living conditions and personal hygiene; books; nature of Japanese guards. Recollections of period as prisoner of war on Burma-Thailand Railway and Nakom Nayok Camp, Thailand, 3/1943-8/1945: background to being assigned to D Force; train journey from Singapore, Malaya into Thailand including conditions on train; living conditions in Kanyu No 2 Camp, 4/1943-7/1943; nature of work at Hell Fire Pass; work quotas; question of sick prisoners of war working; treatment by guards; punishments; importance of comradeship; diseases including malaria and dysentery. REEL 5 Continues: tropical ulcers; cholera; reaction to loss of friends; attitude to survival; rice ration; story of explosives in bamboo; move to different camps as railway progressed; attitude to completion of railway, 6/1944; construction of bridge on River Kwai; nature of work duties after completion of railway; rations and supplementing diet; use of charcoal as medicine; duties on Burma-Thailand Railway; story of pigs; reaction to Allied air raids on Burma Thailland Railway; story of fate of Private Tommy Green; reaction to end of war of Second World War and celebrations, 15/8/1945; description of making drink for local civilians. REEL 6 Continues: problem with ears and medical treatment. Aspects of return to Perth, Australia, 9/1945: reception for former prisoners of war; reunion with family; opinion of medical treatment. Post-war life and employment: adjustment to civilian life; effects of period as prisoner of war on civilian life; story of trip to Republic of Singapore, 2002; reflections on period as prisoner of war comradeship; psychological effects of incarceration; attitude to reconciliation with Japanese; reflections on Second World.